Wednesday Evening News Brief, May 16

By/
May 16, 2018

Wednesday evening brief

May 16 2018

Good evening!

Here’s everything that transpired during the course of the day…

The Centre today directed the security forces to not launch counterterror operations in J&K during Ramzan.The J&K government had requested the central government to consider its suggestion of Ramzan peace proposal. The decision to not initiate operations in J&K was taken to facilitate the peace-loving Muslims in the Valley state, said the home ministry. Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to welcome the Centre’s decision. Read

Infosys has formed a blockchain-based trade finance network with seven private-sector banks to help lenders prevent PNB-like frauds. Blockchain technology allows all stages of transactions to be securely shared between network members, as opposed to each bank working independently which is more expensive and increases the chance of error. The network will increase security and efficiency in the banking sector while also broadening its product offering.

The suspense over government formation in Karnataka continued today amid allegations and counter-allegations between parties. All three principal players in the state – the BJP, Congress and JD(S) – convened legislative party meetings today. Meanwhile, JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy accused the BJP of horse-trading and said that it offered his MLAs Rs 100 crore and cabinet rank to lure them to switch sides. The BJP refuted the allegations and called them “imaginary”.

Indore and Bhopal have retained the cleanest city tag for the second consecutive year, according to a government survey. According to the survey report, Vijayawada is cleanest among big cities having more than one million population while Mysuru has emerged as the cleanest among cities with pollution of three lakh to one million. The survey ranked Chandigarh as the third most cleanest city in the country.

The Trump administration said that China’s strategic intentions and trajectory in the Indo-Pacific are destabilising and counterproductive. The US said it will continue to pursue a constructive, result-oriented relationship with China, but will not accept policies or actions that threaten to undermine the international rules-based order.